The "Retracing" Project
"Retracing" is a multi-media project in which I remember, recount, and process some core memories spanning the years of my life. I have celebrated the births of my children and mourned the loss of my grandparents. I have experienced the healing of old wounds, and felt others tear open at the seams. I trust that by walking with others through the joys and sorrows of my life in both songs and pictures, that I can serve them well. The paintings below were inspired by a song of the same title.
This project will include 12 paintings, and 12 songs released as two 6-track EPs, the first of which releases 6/1/2023.
"She Dances"
Created with my daughter in mind, and the way she felt free to dance like nobody was watching. She cared so little about whether her steps were right, or even whether there was music playing at all. She danced with the joy of her Maker within, and to the great joy of her earthly father.
Hear the song 6/1/2023
"Sleep Well"
A lullaby written for my niece became this song and picture. We will seldom sleep as well as when we were young. The older we get, the more burdens we carry, more cares, more concerns. This was one part "don't grow up too fast" and another part reminding myself to release my cares like a child before my Heavenly Father, who watches me day and night.
Hear the song 6/1/2023
"Adeline's Song"
My oldest daughter's name is Adeline, and this songs and painting are in honor of her love of life, cats, dancing, and dandelions. She lives with her nose in a book, and her head in a song, and I want to live in her world. This painting was an attempt to get just one frame of that world in focus, and she assures me that she would certainly visit the world in the picture, "because the cat was there too."